Die with the Memory
by LunaRoseWish
Summary: "Damn it! Kokichi, why would you force me into something like this? How do you expect me to make a decision like this?" Kokichi finally faced him, turning slowly so their gazes met. With a surprisingly steady hand, Kokichi held the antidote bottle out to Kaito, his voice unwavering when he spoke. "Because I already know what you'll choose."


"That's enough! You bastard!"

As Kokichi opened the door, Kaito tackled him, sending them both to the ground before Kokichi even had the chance to say a word. Quickly recovering from the impact, Kaito pinned Kokichi down by the neck with one hand, a loaded crossbow in the other. Kokichi stared up at his attacker in shock, expression soon shifting to one of his usual annoying smirks.

"Nishishi~Momota-chan, you know it's not nice to attack people," Ouma taunted, violet eyes glinting with mischief.

"Shut up!" Kaito snapped, aiming the crossbow at the boy below him.

This seemed to do the trick, as the supreme leader fell silent for once. Kaito sighed, holding the crossbow at his side, but still keeping a firm grip on Ouma's neck. After a moment or two, Kokichi broke the silence again.

"Momota-chan, if you want to fight, then we should at least make it fair. You're kinda choking me out here."

"Yeah, that's the idea," Kaito replied snarkily.

Kokichi didn't say another word to him. He only met Kaito's stare with one of his own. After a while, Kaito slowly released the pressure he held on Kokichi's throat, moving slowly and cautiously, even as the boy below him turned away, massaging his throat and giving a few rasping coughs.

"Stupid space idiot...trying to strangle me...just like his psycho ass girlfriend…"

Kaito caught a few tidbits of Kokichi's angry muttering as he stepped away from him, doing his best to keep his eyes on the little supreme leader.

He looked away for a second, checking the crossbow for what was going to be their final confrontation, but the moment his eyes strayed away from him, Kokichi grasped the folds of his coat, pulling Momota towards him before pinning him to the wall, near the prison that was the exisal hangar's bathroom.

Kokichi laughed at the startled look Momota took on as he recovered from the shock, "You truly are an idiot Momota-chan. Never look away from me."

"Attention whore."

"Now you sound like Miu, how pathetic," Ouma shot back at him, trying to grab at the crossbow that Kaito held out of his reach.

Ouma slipped as he reached for the weapon, and Kaito pushed the smaller boy away from him, quickly pulling the trigger on Maki's crossbow. A flash of panic rushed through his body as he realized that he didn't take on a specific area of Kokichi's body to target. He just hoped that he didn't hit any vitals or anything.

A scream of pain echoed through the steel walls of the hangar, and through his adrenaline high, Kaito saw Kokichi kneeling on the ground, body shaking and hand tightly clutching his shoulder. The next minute, the supreme leader's burning amethyst glare was piercing him.

"You fucking shot me!" He shouted, voice filled with surprise and an almost childish rage.

"Yeah, no shit! It's nothing compared to what you did though, asshole! You knocked me out, kidnapped me, and locked me up in a fucking bathroom!"

The accusation seemed to quiet Kokichi for at least a little while, and for a moment or two, the only sound in the room was their labored breathing, save for an occasional gasp of pain from Kokichi in between breaths.

"I'm going to...kick your ass," Ouma muttered hatefully.

Kaito wasn't concerned, as most of Ouma's threats were empty. That was, until he saw him pull out the exisal remote he'd hidden on his person. The astronaut made a lunge for Kokichi, hoping to disarm him, but before he could reach him, a huge machine burst into the hangar, startling them both.

To Kaito's surprise, even Kokichi seemed taken aback by the exisal's sudden appearance, and he stood, pointing the remote towards it, only to drop it a second later, and let out another scream of pain.

It had been too fast for him to catch, but before he knew it, Maki stood in front of Kokichi, newly loaded crossbow aimed at him as he kneeled on the ground again, an arrow lodged firmly in his back.

"Damn it!" He gasped, voice cracking slightly with pain, "why does everyone keep fucking shooting me?"

"Maki-roll!" Kaito called out to her, relief and surprise edging into his voice as he took a shaky step towards her.

She glanced at him for a second, the glare in her red eyes softening a bit at the sight of him unharmed.

"Kaito," she sighed, gaze hardening to steel once again when she heard the sounds of Kokichi gasping for breath, her head snapping back around to face him, "stay out of this Kaito. I'll handle Kokichi."

"Maki-roll, there's no point in trying to—"

"Now tell me, who are you?" She questioned, ignoring Kaito's protests, "a remnant of despair? Do you work for Junko Enoshima? Why did you create this killing game?"

Her voice grew more desperate, more deadly as she went on, asking question after question without giving Kokichi time to answer any of them.

Finally, she stopped, her menacing scowl meeting the shit-eating grin Kokichi gave her in return. She cocked the crossbow back, a silent threat that made Kaito flinch.

"Wh—What are you...talking about…? Remnants of despair...what's that…?"

Kaito couldn't help the rise of distaste he felt at the sound of Kokichi's words. The bastard actually sounded genuinely confused. Of course, even now he'd be an actor.

"Don't play dumb with me!" Maki shouted, her soul splitting glare almost glowing in the dim light.

"What, are you going to shoot me?" Kokichi taunted, his voice falling back into its usual snarky-ness.

"Don't fucking mess with me Kokichi, because I _will_ shoot you!"

There was a moment of silence, a stare down between his friend and his enemy, and then—

"Do it."

The dare was weak, childish, but it clearly got a rise out of Maki, and the sound of an arrow whistling through the air cut the silence. Before he could even register his own movements, he was running, throwing his arm out as a shield.

Sharp pain pierced through his arm, and he found himself winded. Within seconds, the sting had turned electric, flowing through his arm like liquid fire. He dropped to the ground beside Kokichi, clutching his arm with a grunt of pain.

"Fuck, that shit hurts," he muttered, still half confused on how he'd been hit in the first place.

"Kaito!" Maki shrieked, dropping her weapon with a horrified expression.

She fell backwards on her feet shakily, ignoring the loud _clang _of the crossbow hitting the metal flooring.

"Hang on Kaito! Just hang on! I—I'll—"

"Just go Maki-roll!"

"Right!"

With that, she sprinted out of the hangar, leaving the exisal and her classmates behind. From the corner of his eye, Kaito saw Kokichi trying to stand, only for his knees to buckle again. He felt an uninvited rush of pity for the boy in his pitiful state, and approached him.

"That bitch poisoned us," Kokichi hissed bitterly as Momota drew closer to him.

"She poisoned us?"

Kokichi must not have noticed him before, as his head jerked up and he looked startled, his expression shifting to disgust when it settled on him.

"Not you. Well, not intentionally at least," he grumbled, sounding more like a butthurt child than the all powerful mastermind he'd declared himself as.

"So, we're gonna die then?"

Ouma just scoffed and looked away from him, trying to stand up again, and failing, "You were gonna die anyway."

Momota stopped dead in his tracks, and Ouma must have noticed the dumbfounded look on his face, because he replied with, "I'm not stupid Momota-chan. Don't think I haven't heard you vomiting your brains out every night."

"What?! No, I—I'm not—"

"Hah, and you still deny it," Ouma argued, his signature unsettling smile creeping back onto his face, "Ever the hero."

"Shut up."

"And now everyone else has seen it too!" Kokichi announced, his voice rising in excitement, though he sounded more delirious than anything, "don't forget that Momota. It was when I punched you, remember? Everyone is probably worried sick about you, especially Maki-roll."

"Don't call her that!"

"Why not? Do you really think that anyone really believed your lame excuse? We're young, Momota-chan, but we're not stupid. Even we know what a cold looks like," he paused, eyes becoming like black holes, and a hellish smile spreading across his face, "and what death looks like."

To say that Momota was disturbed would be an understatement. He was startled into silence by the supreme leader's taunting. Ouma paused, clearly satisfied with the reaction he got, and allowed his face to return to normal.

Kaito was baffled by how quickly this innocent looking child could morph into a psycho ass serial killer. It made him shudder, or maybe that was just the poison, as Kokichi told him, running its course through his body.

Trying to regain the upper hand, Momota just smiled and stepped back, leaning against the wall for support. He wouldn't let himself look weak in front of Ouma.

"Well, I think right now, you're not looking so hot either," he pointed out, "If you haven't noticed, we both look like death."

"No, you're much worse—"

"You're on your knees," Kaito cut in, watching in satisfaction as Ouma flinched at the words.

"You will be too, soon enough," he argued, recovering quickly, "It was Strike 9 poison that she used. It's fast acting shit."

Kaito was taken aback by his answer, leaving him confused long after silence had fallen over them.

"How...did you know what kind of poison she used?"

"Hm?" Ouma perked his head up, looking at Momota innocently before sporting a cheeky smile, "Well, I snooped in Shuichi's lab of course!"

"But that doesn't explain—"

"You didn't let me finish," he interjected, smile fading to give way to a blank mask, "I saw the poisons in Shumai's lab, but I also figured out, through the process of elimination, that Maki-roll used Strike 9 poison, mainly because she wanted to get answers from me. She would have wanted to use something that wouldn't kill me right away."

"But you just said that it was fast acting," Kaito pointed out.

"Don't be stupid Momota-chan, use your head. Strike 9 circulates through the body quickly enough, but it won't kill someone on the spot."

Kaito, already confused by Ouma's gibberish, decided to take a jab at an earlier, and less noticeable point, "also, Shumai? Really? And I told you not to call her Maki-roll."

Kokichi stared at him, eyes disbelieving for a second before quickly being drowned by the usual mischievous sparkle.

"Wow, that's all you got from that? You really are an idiot Momota-chan! Instead of focusing on useless nicknames and such, you should be congratulating me for my detective skills. That what you always do for Shumai, right?"

Kaito scoffed at him, and Ouma let his smile drop once again.

"You are the furthest thing from a detective. Besides, what makes you think I'd want to sit here and compliment the mastermind of this entire sick game? You're out of your mind."

Ouma looked at his feet, almost stung by Kaito's rebuttal, soon masking it with an expression that Kaito could only describe as sinister.

"Well, considering you're stuck here with me for the rest of our now shortened lives—"

"Like hell I am!" Kaito cut in loudly, "Maki-roll is gonna get me an antidote, and when she does, I'm leaving your ass here."

He watched in silent anger as crocodile tears welled up in the corners of indigo eyes.

"What?! Momota-chan is so mean, leaving me here to die! Waaaaaaah!"

"Dear lord, just shut up will you? Don't even know why I saved your ass…" Momota grumbled irritably.

Ouma's tears evaporated at once, and he now had a searching gaze fixed on Kaito.

"That's actually a good point, Momota-chan. Why bother saving me?"

Unable to answer, and still reeling from the poison in his blood, not to mention Ouma's unpredictable emotional changes, Kaito only clicked his tongue and went silent. After a bit of whining from Kokichi about Kaito giving him the silent treatment, Ouma also decided on peace and quiet. It only lasted a minute or two, when Kaito heard Maki's voice, echoing and distant.

"Kaito? Kaito!" She called, sounded breathless and panicked.

"Maki-roll!"

Kaito breathed a sigh of relief and stumbled towards the door, trying to stop the room from spinning around him. He faintly noticed Ouma following quickly after him, finally on his feet, albeit unsteadily.

They both reached the bathroom at an agonizingly slow pace, finding Maki peeking through the bathroom window, crimson eyes glimmering with concern.

"Kaito! I've got it," Maki held up a small bottle to the window, "I've got the antidote."

"Haha, my hero," Kaito joked as he staggered to the window, taking the bottle weakly.

Maki looked startled, then she turned away, twirling her hair in between her fingers and trying to hide her oncoming blush.

"D—Don't joke around."

He was about to fire back with a teasing jab, but before he could, he found himself winded and on his knees, with a dull ache in his chest, and now empty handed.

"Kaito, no!" Maki shouted, though it sounded fuzzy through the ringing in his ears.

Smoldering anger built up inside him, and he glared fiercely up at Kokichi, who now towered over him, antidote in hand.

"Damn it Kokichi, don't you dare!" Kaito threatened, his voice coming through gritted teeth.

Ouma stopped, turning his eyes to him. He almost looked genuinely guilty for a moment...truly apologetic, but it left as quickly as it had come.

"Sorry Momota...but I can't die here."

He lifted the bottle to his lips, and Momota felt a wave of sudden panic engulf him.

"Kokichi!"

"Ouma, stop!" Maki's desperate cry made his heart clench.

Ignoring their cries, Ouma downed the bottle in one horrifying moment, leaving both Kaito and Maki speechless. The supreme leader pulled the bottle from his lips, now empty, and Maki's quiet sobs could be faintly heard through the wall.

Kaito took a moment to steel himself, then hung his head and spoke as loudly as he dared, which only just rose above a whisper.

"Maki-roll, get out of here," he ordered, his tone telling her that there was no room for argument, "don't let that bastard Monokuma get a hold of you."

For a brief moment, scarlet irises met with mauve ones, and they shared a quiet moment of despair. A quick nod followed, and Maki squeezed her eyes shut, sprinting away from the hangar with a heart wrenching scream. Kaito waited until silence filled the room before trying to stand, pushing his legs to obey him. He tried to lunge for Kokichi, but only succeeded in falling pathetically at the leader's feet. He struggled to raise his head, glaring up at the shorter man, and not for the first time, feeling small in his presence.

He had expected a laugh, a taunt, _anything_, but when his eyes fell on Kokichi's face, all he could see was numbness. No—maybe he looked...sad? It was far too passive of an expression for him to tell. That was different, for Kokichi. He was so exaggerated, that seeing him so blank faced, as if he were spacing out, it was startling.

"Kokichi?"

Finally, Ouma moved, jerking his head down so that his hair shadowed his face. A short, breathless laugh escaped him, and Kaito watched as his chest shuddered with a shaky inhale. A moment later, Ouma was on the ground, and Kaito was crawling to help him.

"Kokichi! Hey, what the hell man? What's wrong with you?"

"Shit," Ouma muttered, ignoring the astronaut's cries of concern, "it's going through me faster than I anticipated."

"K—Kokichi—"

"Momota-chan," Ouma suddenly spoke up, his tone more somber and serious than he'd ever heard, "help me up."

Kaito hesitated. Yes, he'd been concerned when he saw Kokichi fall onto the floor without a single word, but he _was_ still the mastermind. He stopped, hearing his own harsh breathing echoing back to him in the nearly empty hangar. His thoughts drifted, and he hesitated, hand frozen in midair, reaching for Kokichi.

'_It was Ouma that I took the arrow for. Ouma was the one Maki wanted to kill. Ouma was the one who stole the antidote from me just because—wait," _Kaito came to a realization, '_yeah, Ouma has the antidote. He should be fine. He's lying right now, to trick me. I won't fall for it.'_

Slowly, Kaito lowered his hand into his lap, and fell back onto his heels, a cold feeling spreading across his chest.

Staring at Ouma, for a moment, he made his decision, "You don't need my help," he said icily, "You're the all powerful mastermind, right? If you think I'll help the same person who put me here in this killing game to begin with, then I'm not the one who's an idiot."

Kokichi looked up at him, startled, and his body shook with the effort of holding his head up. It looked convincing, really.

"Plus," he continued, before Kokichi could protest, "_you_ took the antidote to the poison, so by now, you should be fine."

He paused for a moment, waiting for the little leader to pop up cheerily, as if he hadn't just been pretending to collapse, but there was nothing. Kaito felt a spark of anger flare up in his chest, and he narrowed his eyes at Ouma, spitting out the next words as if Kokichi himself were a poison, "You can help yourself."

Kokichi stayed silent, his body completely still, and his eyes now back to avoiding looking anywhere near Kaito.

He had curled in on himself so much that Kaito barely heard the words he breathed out, no more than a whisper, "You idiot."

Momota was ready to fire back at Kokichi for using that insult _again_, but was silenced when the supreme leader whipped his head up and met his eyes with a glare that nearly glowed with malice. His teeth were bared like fangs, and to the astronaut's surprise, they almost looked like sharpened points. Kokichi's whole face contorted and twisted in the rage that he, no doubt, had running in his very blood.

"You absolute, fucking _MORON_!" Kokichi exploded, his voice bouncing off the walls, echoing back to them so strongly that Kaito swore he could feel it in floor, "I'm _not _the mastermind!"

"Oh, right. Yeah, that's a good one _Ouma_," he spat, moving forward to come face to face with the shorter boy, "do you really think I'll believe that lie?"

Ouma hesitated, confliction swirling in amethyst eyes. Momota saw his resolve weaken, but as soon as it had come, it was gone, and back was the supreme leader filled with unresolved anger.

"It's. Not. A lie," he said through gritted teeth.

Unconvinced, Momota moved even closer, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling blooming in his stomach from being so physically close to Kokichi, "You want me to believe you? Fine. Prove it to me."

Taken aback, Ouma recoiled a bit, creating some semblance of distance between them, "What?"

Momota, sensing the easing tension, moved back as well, once again sitting back on his heels, "Prove that you're not the mastermind."

Ouma's face fell back into numbness, a blank, unreadable expression, and then, a chesire smile stretched across his face, sending chills down Momota's spine.

"Alrighty Momota-chan. Here," he thrust something out in front of him, the object moving too quickly for his eye to catch it, and he recoiled when the object in Ouma's hand flashed in front of his face, "Here's your proof."

It took a moment, but when Momota fully processed the item in front of him, his blood ran cold, "Th—The antidote," he whispered in disbelief, eyes widening.

He waited. Waited for Ouma to tell him it was a trick, a lie. Waited for Ouma to call him an idiot, and ramble on about how he was better than him because _he _drank the antidote and Kaito was going to die. He should have learned to stop expecting that by now; a fact that was proven by Kokichi's dead serious stare, which hadn't wavered once since he held out the bottle of salvation between them.

Before he could make himself aware of his own movements, he was struggling to his feet, stumbling towards Kokichi. He managed a few shaky steps before his knees buckled and he fell, finding himself in the little leader's arms.

"Wow Momota-chan, I know I'm giving you the antidote and everything, but you don't have to _fall _for me."

"You're insufferable," Momota growled, going quiet only when he realized what Ouma had really tried to say, "Wait, y—you're _giving_ me the antidote?"

He was met by a heavy silence, and through that silence, there was a small murmur, filled with a gentleness and concern that he didn't think Ouma possessed, "Kaito, do you want to live?"

"Wha—?"

"I said, do you want your friends to live?" Ouma looked up, speaking quickly, as if covering up a mistake.

He tried to wrap his head around those words, the ones he was met with, and those that Kokichi used to cover them up. Looking up at the bottle of liquid, he knew it was pointless to dwell on it.

He shakily sat up, feeling winded, but still managed to look Ouma in the eye long enough to reach out for the bottle, feeling the cool smoothness of the glass against his skin, and reply, "Yes, I want my friends to live."

"Good, then this is our plan."

…

"No! If one of us dies, then Maki-roll will become the blackened!" A look of pure desperation and fear crossed Kaito's face, "I can't watch Maki _die_!"

He stopped, taking a few deep breaths, and, while it did nothing to stop his pounding heart and racing thoughts, he directed his attention to Ouma, now looking away from him dejectedly. He thought about what the boy had told him, and immediately felt a stab of guilt for his careless outburst.

"But I can't let you die either!" He blurted out, frustration edging his voice, "Not after this," he motioned to Ouma, who flinched slightly.

"This?" Ouma questioned.

"You," he muttered under his breath, "not being the mastermind and everything. And now you want me to—to…"

Kaito felt a burst of irritation swell up inside him, and he pounded his fist against the cold, hard floor, ignoring the pain that rippled through his hand, "Damn it! Kokichi, why would you force me into something like this? How do you expect me to make a decision like this?"

Kokichi finally faced him, turning slowly so their gazes met. His expression was cold and indifferent, but if Kaito looked hard enough, he might be able to see the little bit of fear and hurt in the boy's forced expression. Kokichi's indigo eyes were unnervingly knowing, as if he could see into Kaito's soul. Kaito suppressed a shudder.

With his voice betraying nothing, he gave a small smile and said, "Because I already know what you'll choose."

Kaito didn't know how to respond. He simply stared at Ouma for what seemed like an eternity, then looked at the bottle still sitting, full, in his hands. He closed his eyes, and tried to push down the bitterness coiling in his stomach.

"That's because there's only one thing I _can_ choose, and you're a cruel bastard for making me realize it."

Kaito didn't give Kokichi a chance to speak. He made his decision, popping the bottle open and downing the whole thing in one swig. He cringed as the bitter taste reached his tongue, but the relief that followed was far more blissful than he could have imagined. He forced himself to his feet, wobbling and eventually leaning on the wall for support.

"Ouma," he tried, then shook his head slightly and corrected himself, "Kokichi. I'll agree to it. I—I'll kill you, to end this game."

Kaito reached out his hand to Ouma and forced a stiff smile, trying not to let the tears waiting behind his eyelids spill over, "You and me, we're gonna end this stupid ass game together."

Kokichi looked up, wonder and amazement shimmering in the violet depths of his gaze. He reached out, hand shakily hovering over Kaito's, "Does this mean I'm one of your sidekicks now?"

He grabbed Kokichi's hand, hauling him to his feet and pulling him close to his chest, wrapping his arms around the little leader protectively, "Yeah, if you want to."

_And in the end, they hated him. And in the end, he was their real hero._


End file.
